As Time Goes By
by Never Stop Believing in Love
Summary: Set 3 years after Waterloo. Boyd/Grace


**Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright for Waking the dead or its characters – all rights belong to the BBC**

**Content: Boyd and Grace **

**Rating: K**

**Thanks for taking the time to read this – I hope that you enjoy! As always would love to hear your feedback. This one is especially for Miss Duncan who never fails to read and encourage – and to the OHT …. what can I say, it's been a pleasure! **

**As Time Goes By**

The afternoon sun was blazing as Grace slowly made her way through Kensington Gardens enjoying the warmth of the rays on her face. The smell of summer lingered in the air, a little haven in the midst of the suffocating fumes of the congested City. She hadn't been back in London for very long and almost immediately she knew that she had missed it more than she cared to admit. There was something about the hustle and bustle of London that made her feel alive. She loved being in the midst of it all, in the hub of everything that was happening. It made her feel like she was included in the world, unlike the sleepy little village in West Sussex that she had relocated to when the gavel of retirement fell. She inhaled deeply, breathing in the warm summer air; it was so good to be back. Here is where she belonged.

There was nothing of note that drew her attention to the grassy area to her left, just a sense of familiarity, a gravitational pull, which stopped her immediately in her steps. Usually a man swinging an animated young child around, both of them in pools of laughter, would have raised little more than a smile as she continued on in her journey, but there was something about this man that arrested her and demanded her full attention. Aware of the increase in her heart rate she stood silently, voyeuristically, watching the scene as it played out in front of her, unable to remove her gaze. She was completely captivated, just as she had been all those years ago. They were some distance from where she stood, but there was no doubt it was him. Grace would recognise his form anywhere. She had spent many years studying him, knew instinctively how every muscle and sinew moved, the breadth of his shoulders, the gait of his walk. Yes there was no doubt about it; this man was most certainly Peter Boyd.

She hadn't seen Boyd since their 'retirement' party. Not that she could ever bring herself to call it that, but then again, even calling it a 'leaving' party left her with insurmountable sadness. It was the party that marked the end of their working relationship, and as it turned out, their non-working relationship. In her heart of hearts she didn't believe that either of them planned to loose contact, but Boyd being Boyd never made the first move and she, not wanting to appear needy, or desperate, backed off. She thought that relocating out of London would help her to move on and forget the CCU, the team, and Boyd. Painfully, it hadn't.

As the sun danced on her face her memory drifted to the night of the party. The evening had been immersed in both happiness, and absolute sorrow. She was surrounded by friends and colleagues whom she loved, and who she knew loved her, and yet they were all there to mark the end of something special that she had held so very dear. Although she smiled and laughed her way through the evening, her heart was full of sadness. She didn't want to let them go, she didn't want it all to end, and yet she was powerless to do anything about it. Towards the end of the night Grace had gone outside for some fresh air, tired of smiling against the pain. A few moments later he followed her out.

"_There you are." He opened softly. "People are starting to wonder where you got to." He said as he approached her. Grace stood with her back to him looking out over the London skyline as it twinkled in the moonlight._

"_I'm gonna miss this" She said wistfully._

"_What London? I thought you couldn't wait to move into the cottage."_

"_London. The team ….. this!" She said gesturing between them both with her hand as she turned to face him, her sapphire eyes beginning to glisten with unshed tears._

"_Oh come on, you'll not miss anything." He said trying to push down the deep ache that was threatening to overwhelm him. "Just think, no more arguments Grace eh?" He smiled gently at her._

"_I'm serious Boyd." She admonished, her voice sounding sharper than she intended. _

"_I know you are." Was all he could manage to say as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and fluidly pulled her tight to him, softly kissing the top of her head. Her arms instinctively snaked around him as she took refuge in his embrace. They stood like this, in silence, for a few minutes, each drawing strength from the other, each reluctant to let go. Until finally he broke the stillness._

"_I'm gonna miss it too Grace." His voice, choked in emotion, was barely more than a whisper. _

_She unconsciously held onto him tighter. Of course she knew that he was going to miss it. His work had always been his life. He passionately threw himself into it, most of the time forsaking all others. It was what made him get up in the morning, what drove him through the day, and what kept him awake at night. She didn't know how he would cope with having so much time on his hands, time in which he could contemplate the past, reflect on the choices that he had made. If she knew Peter Boyd at all then that would not end well. His tendency towards the maudlin was something she was all too well aware off. _

_A door opened behind them and the moment was lost. Spence had come to find out where they had disappeared to, and soon both she and Boyd were inside again, drinking more wine and smiling superficial smiles. Their deep anguish repressed, hidden from everyone in the room. _

_Saying goodbye had been easier than she thought, each of them caught up in the pretence that this was not for the last time, neither of them willing to let their masks fall, not even now. _

_He had walked her to her taxi, after over a decade of constant conversation and argument, both walked in silence, unsure of what to say. Pausing before opening the taxi door he turned to her._

"_It was a good evening wasn't it?" He said more as a statement than a question. _

"_Yeah, it was." She replied. "It was lovely of so many people to come and wish us well."_

"_I think there were there for you Grace, most of them hate me." He grinned widely._

"_Oh that's not true. Spencer likes you, and I'm pretty sure that Eve likes you too." She returned his smile. _

"_Oh you're pretty sure are you? Well that's alright then isn't it. Two people like me in a room of around one hundred. I suppose that's not too bad."_

"_Three people! You forgot to count me in your numbers Boyd."_

_The held one another's gaze for a few moments, drinking in the other, silence saying more than they could ever vocalise. _

"_I should go." Grace motioned with her head towards the taxi. _

"_Yes, yes of course." He replied. "Goodbye Grace." She inhaled sharply as he reached over and gently placed his lips on her cheek, his scent lingering as he pulled away to open the car door. "I'll call you, yeah."_

_She nodded softly. "Goodbye Boyd." She whispered as she reached up and gently ran her thumb across his face before getting into the back seat of the taxi. He slammed the door firmly, neither of them releasing their gaze from one another until the car began to drive away. It was only then that Grace allowed herself to crumple. All of the sorrow, all of the pain and heartache that she had kept under control during the evening came flooding out in an overpowering surge of emotion. As her tears flowed freely she knew that she was not only crying for herself, she was crying for him. This man who, over the years, she had spent so much time and energy trying not to let him get to close had somehow got under her skin and had without knowledge stolen her heart. As she drove away, her heart broke as she painfully let herself admit for the first time that she loved him._

Since that night they had only sporadically spoken on the phone, and even then that was only during the first few months. The longer the periods between contact, the easier it became, until finally she didn't hear from him again. At first it drove her crazy, imagining what he was doing, who he was doing it with, longing to be with him, but with the passage of time she found that she barely thought of him anymore. Until today.

Now in the blazing afternoon sun she was faced once again with emotions that she thought had long since left her. He hadn't changed in the three years since she last saw him. He was still ruggedly handsome; his silver hair glistening in the sunlight, his tanned skin suggesting that he had been abroad recently. Everything about him was familiar, and she found the sight of him strangely comforting. Grace was not one to believe in fate, but London was a big City and even she couldn't shake the feeling that it was more than just coincidence that had led them both to Kensington Gardens that day.

Slowly and purposefully she began to cross the grass to where he was. She tried to suppress the nervousness that attempted to wrap itself around her heart, her stomach lurching as butterflies danced within it. She knew she was being ridiculous, he had been one of her oldest and dearest friends, but nothing could subdue the anxiousness that she felt. It was overwhelming, so much so she was half tempted to turn and walk away leaving him confined once again to her memory. Yet, the niggling feeling of fate wouldn't leave her. What were the chances of them bumping into one another in a huge city like London? Bizarrely a quote from one of her favourite films floated into her mind.

'_Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world ….'_

Except this wasn't a gin joint, it was a park and she certainly wasn't Humphrey Bogart, nor for that matter was Boyd.

As she closed the gap between them the child's laughter grew louder. For the first time Grace allowed herself to observe the little girl who gleefully cried out for 'faster, faster', as Boyd turned in circles with her. She must have been about six or seven years old, a pretty little thing with long wavy brown hair and deep dark eyes. She completely captivated Boyd's attention and Grace could instantly tell that this beautiful girl had him wrapped around her little finger. Swallowing hard against the anxiety that pervaded she forced herself to speak.

"She's adorable." She opened.

His back was turned to her, but instantaneously his movement stopped as immediately he knew who it was that was standing directly behind him. Momentarily he closed his eyes, reluctant to turn around, afraid that he had dreamt the moment and would be bitterly disappointed.

"What age is she?" Grace continued.

Her voice washed over him. Warm, comforting, inviting. He spun round and there she was smiling tenderly at him. His eyes widened, a smile lighting upon his lips as he drank her in.

"Grace!" He exclaimed returning her smile widely. "What are you doing here?" He asked surprise and delight radiating from his voice.

"I moved back to London last week, turns out village life doesn't suit me after all." She continued to smile.

"Well I could've told you that Grace! I'm surprised you stuck it for as long as you did, it would've driven me crazy within the first two weeks."

"You'd only have lasted two days, if even that, before you went stir crazy." She mocked. "She's beautiful Boyd….. " Grace motioned towards the little girl with the familiar brown eyes, who was firmly held in his arms. "….. what age is she?"

"Six." He replied proudly, before seemingly remembering to introduce them. "Emma, this is Grace. Grace is an old friend of mine. We used to work together a few years ago." Emma's smile beamed at Grace revealing a missing front tooth.

"Hello Grace." She sweetly said before turning her attention to back to Boyd. "Granddad can you swing me round again?"

"Not just yet Emma, I want to talk to Grace. Why don't you go and play for a while and then we'll go for ice-cream. Okay?" He said lovingly kissing her forehead before gently setting her onto the grass and watching as she ran back and forth over the green.

"Granddad?" Grace said raising her eyebrows. " I assumed she was …"

"Oh, no, she's not mine. It's a bit of a long story, but it turns out that Luke had girlfriend whilst living on the streets and they had a baby together, Emma. Jessica, Emma's mum, tracked me down almost two years ago needing help. She was in trouble, had a drug habit and needed money. Of course I got a DNA test done and Emma is most definitely my granddaughter."

"And Jessica?" Grace enquired genuinely interested.

"Yeah, she's doing really well now. She went through a drug rehabilitation programme, and managed to get a council house where both she and Emma live. She's a lovely girl, and lets me see Emma as often as I want."

"Aww that's great Boyd." Grace replied before they drifted into companionable silence. "You look happy." She continued after a few moments.

"I am happy, I suppose." He said running his fingers through his thick silver hair. "What about you Grace, are you happy?"

"Well I'm happier now I'm back in London." She laughed. Village life had appealed to her, at least the image of it. The reality was something entirely different. She had made friends easily, and at first had thrown herself into everything that it had to offer, but in spite of it all, she still felt incredibly lonely. The cottage was isolated from everything she loved. She began to resent the fact that everyone knew everything about everyone else, and found it all to be a little too intrusive. The lure of the city was too great for her and she spent many nights hankering after it. Her return was inevitable.

"Well you look amazing." He said truthfully. He couldn't remember a day during the last three years when he hadn't thought of Grace. There was always something that would remind him of her. More than once he had picked up the phone and dialled her number only to quickly cancel the call before it connected. Once or twice he had even started to drive towards West Sussex determined to track her down, before turning the car and heading back home to the loneliness of London. She had a new life now, one he was not part of and he didn't want to intrude. He knew that he had left so many things unsaid when they parted. The memory of that evening had haunted him incessantly every day since, his mind taunting him with the unspoken words he should have voiced, but she had confined him to her past, and he was damned if he was going to encroach on the life that she was building for herself.

"Thank you …." She smiled feeling her cheeks blush uncontrollably as his dark eyes burned into her soul. "What about the rest of the team, do you ever see them?"

He shook his head. "No. I use to meet up with Spence occasionally for a pint, until he became serious about some girl, haven't seen him since."

"Spencer in a serious relationship … who'd of thought eh? He was always a love 'em and leave 'em kinda guy!"

"What about you?" Boyd tentatively asked.

"Oh no, I haven't heard from any of them in years." She replied surprised at how sad she felt at her admission.

"No …. I meant are you with someone?"

Grace stared at him for a few moments slightly stunned at his question before simply replying with a shake of her head.

"No… You?"

"Nope! Haven't met anyone that I am remotely interested in …. well not in the last three years anyway." There was something about his tone, and the way he held her gaze that made Grace's heart race in heightened emotion. Could she dare to believe what she was sure he was inferring?

Suddenly Emma ran towards them and pulled on Boyd's trouser leg. "Granddad can we go for ice-cream now, please?" She pleaded.

"Yes of course we can." He smiled gently at her. "Wanna come?" He turned his attention back to Grace.

"No, thank you really, but I should be getting back."

Boyd felt his heart sink within him, his reluctance to say goodbye to Grace again palpable.

"Oh, okay then." He answered trying unsuccessfully to hide his disappointment. "It was really good to see you again Grace….. I've ….. I've missed you."

"And I you." She reached up and placed a kiss slowly and tenderly on his cheek, remaining close to him longer than appropriate, the same expensive scent lingering in the air. "Goodbye Boyd, take care eh?"

"Bye Grace." He said as he watched her turn and begin to walk away. He had tried to protect his heart from her for as long as he could remember, but without warning she had seized it and held him captive. He knew that he would never find another woman that he loved as much as Grace. His total disinterest in the opposite sex only convinced him more that the only person for him was Grace. If she didn't want him, then he was happy to be alone.

"GRACE." He called after her causing her to stop walking and turn back to face him. He ran towards her. "Have dinner with me Grace, please." He asked.

"Okay then." She answered readily. "When?"

"Tonight?"

She laughed softly "I think I'm free tonight, I'd love to have dinner with you."

"Great!" He said smiling widely. "I'll call you later and you can tell me where to pick you up."

"I look forward to it."

Without warning he bent down and kissed her quickly on the lips. "It's a date then, I'll see you tonight Grace."

"Bye Peter." Grace replied before continuing her journey almost unable to contain the happiness that was welling up inside of her, her heart feeling like it would explode in sheer joy. The feel of his lips still dancing on hers.

As she walked in the heat of the sun she started to hum softly to herself, the tune from her favourite film …

_You must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh._

_The fundamental things of life, _

_As time goes by._

Fin


End file.
